If you know of any high school students who would benefit from some time spent on community service this summer, send them my way ~ It’s good for their resume, their self-esteem and their spirit! Even if they’ve done the minimum service required at school, colleges are increasing the amount of consideration given to those with multiple and/or ongoing community service efforts.
Unlike monthly DeClutter For Good drives, this summer’s community service projects pertain to research needed for “The Wall.” The Wall is the focal point envisioned for Time Well Spent where, on an ong0ing basis, we will take recycling beyond the curb, finding alternative uses for items that typically make it only as far as the recycling bin or, worse, into the trash can.
Students can choose their project focus based on their own interests. Examples include eyeglasses (given to those in third world countries), medicine bottles (used in Africa for dissemination of HIV medications) hotel-sized toiletries (for homeless women in Boston), cellphones (for victims of abuse on the North Shore), and sneakers (recycled into gym flooring) ~ and that’s just for starters! You can read more about The Wall by clicking here.
In order to maximize the positive impact of community service such that it makes a meaningful impression and contributes to a lasting sense of stewardship and service, I believe in community service projects that focus on an area of specific interest to each particular young person. Those who take an active role in a project and feel connected to the outcome will learn the true satisfaction that comes with making a difference, being a part of the change.
If you want to learn more about community service opportunities for your teen, feel free to get in touch with me and we can discuss the possibilities further. Don’t have a teen of your own? Feel free to share this post with someone who does!
Carpe Diem ! Nancy
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Near and dear to my heart is the DeClutter For Good concept at Time Well Spent. You might even think of it as DeClutter ”4″ Good as the benefits are (at least) four-fold:
- DeCluttering your home brings peace and organization to your own life, allowing you and yours to live a better quality of life each day.
- Donating your clutter keeps it out of landfills. What’s more ~ it contributes to efforts to minimize the carbon footprint involved via the creation of products made from repurposed materials as opposed to those made from raw and/or unsustainable materials, the creation of which is fueled by unsustainable energy sources.
- By combining our collective clutter and giving it to vetted service organizations, with very little effort, those involved are empowered as they move their extra ”stuff” into the right hands, allowing those service organizations to focus on their important work by helping to meet their material needs.
- Donating through Time Well Spent adds to quantifiable goals and helps spread the message of mindful awareness of what we do with our stuff in order to improve the quality of our own life, those in need and the environment (that’s the Time Well Spent mission, fyi!).
Also cool, note that the above list of benefits can be considered in any order, depending on your own personal priorities and passion… Any way you look at it, it’s a great way to clear the clutter, lift your spirits, and take another step toward your own goals and a promising, empowering vision of a more sustainable and locally-connected future ~ a future that brings together the power of virtual groups with the heart and personal contact of the local community.
With all that said, it may seem contradictory that I’ve made the decision to hold off on DeClutter For Good drives for the summer months. While I’d love to continue the mini-drives, my time will be better spent focused on Phase II and, consequently, bringing Time Well Spent closer to launch so that the mini events can grow to the full vision and potential that I have for them.
In the meantime, click on the following links for a look back at some key DeClutter For Good results, including information about organizations assisted as well as types and quantities of items decluttered and donated:
Special thanks to all of those who have contributed so far. To those who haven’t yet, stay tuned ~ there will be plenty more opportunities down the road…
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As I mentioned last month, I’ve largely been following an action-while-planning approach to the pre-launch phase of my social enterprise start-up.(You can read more about action-while-planning by clicking here.) Here’s why ~ Starting Time Well Spent is not the same as starting a profit-driven business, nor is it the same as running a volunteer event or even a non-profit business for that matter… Though it may be a cliche, it’s out-of-the-box thinking at a time when business as usual simply doesn’t meet all the needs that our times require. Personally, to pursue a career that is focused on the “triple bottom line,” with people and planet before profits, is the only approach to a career that makes sense to me!
I’m driven by my social and environmental mission and my desire to serve that mission in a financially-self-sustaining business model so that I do not seek out grant funds that, in my opinion, should be reserved only for those endeavors which can not be sustained by the market. So, I’m carving out some new territory here in the suburbs but I trust it will be time well spent…
Likewise, the business itself will embody its name when the Time Well Spent doors officially open. Folks who come in will feel their time and ~ if they are purchasing repurposed and/or eco-friendly products, attending a workshop series, or celebrating a child’s birthday party ~ their money, are well spent because value will be a cornerstone. Other cornerstones will be transparency, sustainability, and community.
The “action-while-planning” approach was critically important to moving forward with an untested concept. At this point, it is time to take all that I have learned over the last year of brainstorming, networking and research and put that new-found knowledge together with my passion to serve those in need and the environment and my fellow community members.
Had I been motivated by profits or interested in following a traditional (and unsustainable) grant-seeking path, Time Well Spent might already be a brick-and-mortar space today. Because my intent is focused on promoting lasting change in a model that others may replicate to benefit their own communities, I’m taking my time to insure I am getting it right.
Why? Why else? To inspire one another to live with mindful awareness of the impact of our daily choices on the quality of life for self, those in need and the environment, of course!
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